Verhovayak Lapja, 1943. július-december (26. évfolyam, 26-53. szám)

1943-09-09 / 37. szám

September 9, 1943 rage *____________________________Verhovayak Lapja THE HOMESTEAD MERRY-GO-ROUND BRANCH 430 BY P.F.C. WILLIAM C. KOHUT The Merry Go Round in Action! CONGRATS! It gives me great pleasure indeed to pass along to my readers news of recent engage­ment of mem­ber Elizabeth M. Toth of North Brad­­dock to, T. Sgt. John Black, who is at this time a member of the Army Air Corps, sta­PFC. Kohut tioned at an air base in New Mexico. Betty is sporting an attractive diamond and keeps mum about the wedding date. However, if I secure any ad­ditional details about this im­portant affair I’ll pass them onto my friends. ’ CORRECTION, PLEASE! In my last column I erroneously reported the marriage of mem­ber Irene Seech, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Seech, 487 W. 8th Avé., W. Homestead, Pa. to Corp. Stephen Zahorchak, son of Mrs V. Zahorchak, as taking place in Homestead. It seems as though I did not receive the cor­rect information on this affair át the time, but now am in a position to state that our good friends were married on June 8th, 1943, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Richmond, Va. with Rev. Leo. J. Ryan, offi­ciating. Attendants to the bride and groom were Mr. Aubrey A. Dearhart and Mrs. Minnie C. Dearhart. Although somewhat belated, we nevertheless wish our good friends many long years of happiness and success In their new venture. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ■' I am pleased to welcome into Branch 430 as a new member, attractive, vivacious Martha Solomon as well as Mrs. J. All. These new members are in ad­dition to Joyce Elaine Pollock, John Kovács, Elvira Simon and one that has not been reported as yet, the local organizer for the Hungarian Reformed Fe­deration, Mr. Michael B. Tusai. This gives Branch 430 a total of six new members for the month and approximately five thou­sand dollars worth of new business. Keep’em coming this way each month, Madame Secretary,... we need new members always! . Congratulations at this time are in order for my good friends Frank A. Mihok and Eleanor Ackerman of Bethlehem, Pa., who were married on Sunday, August 15th, 1943, at the Hun­garian Lutheran Church in Hazel wood. Rev. Wolfgang Rettman officiated at the wedding. The attendants as I have been in­formed were Mr. and Mrs. B. Kurjack and Sgt. Stephen Black and Mrs. Joseph Beda. After the customary dinner and recep­tion, the young couple left for a honeymoon trip through the Great Lakes region. Many Con­gratulations to both of you and married life. p! An old friend of ours, Alex Sita formerly of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, has asked that his greetings be extended to all members of Branch 430. Alex is now stationed somewhere in England with the U. S. Armed Forces. We thank you for your remembrance, Alex. I am going to omit other items that I intended to include in this issue because 1 now want to divert the remainder of this column to “Convention Thoughts”. However, I want to caution my readers that the thoughts expressed here are the writer’s own and should not be interpreted as those of any group or body! Í CONVENTION THOUGHTS Today we are amidst a very important , Convention, a Con­vention which I do not believe will be duplicated during the remainder of our natural lives. This Convention being held under wartime regulations and restrictions will be one dealing continually with items of im­portance to our Association, and will not stray from that path. In many of the minutes of District Meetings I have read where the Convention is to be of six days length and no more, and all business shall be trans­acted within that period. Well, today, we have the Convention going on around us, and it is interesting to see if these various provisions so eloquently proposed and accepted are to become facts and actualities or rather just pre­convention talk . Yes, it will be most important to see just how our Convention does turn out. That items of great importance will be discussed here, no one can question, but I trust as others in our section do, that those items which are voted for are going to benefit the membership of our organization, yet not at (he expense of our organization. We have at this Convention, as we have had at other Con­ventions, delegates who are here primarily for one purpose, to secure for themselves positions for which they possibly are not qualified. The resorting to unethical means to bring about election and favor is unfortunate, and it is my hope that delegates who are coerced to vote for which they have no particular favor, rebell and censure the unfortunate member who cannot rely upon past . performances in the field and other qualifica­tions to insure his selection as a member of some dignified body. We must be extremely careful who we select for our national officers as well as members of other governing boards. To select persons who are subject to periods of rashness and conduct unbecoming to a mem ber of our great Association would certainly tend to bring discredit to our Ass’n. This must be prevented at all cost. For our officers we need hard working, sincere and serious persons, those who have already proven themselves or can show to the delegates present that they are undeniably the delegates for the best wishes for success in y°Uy positions in question. Yes, we must select with utmost care those who will guide our destinies for the next four years. As I have already said in this paragraph, they must be hard­working, sincere and serious per­sons, not those flighty and sub­ject to various temperaments and dispositions. Let us select our very best! In the last issue John Sabo expressed very completely the thoughts of many on the subject of the English Journal and the Verhovayak Lapja. As John put it “Let us be certain to keep our Hungarian and English Journals in their present publica­tion forms. If we want to better them let us make im­provements within the Journals, but let us under no circum­stances do away with them”. These are well spoken words and contain much meaning. I believe our good friends who advocate a monthly publication will alter their views on this subject, and join with the majority in maintaining what we already have. The English Journal in its semi-monthly form must be maintained as such, and the Hungarian weekly publication should also be retained . True the cost is higher in maintaining these publications than if a monthly magazine were put out, but then, too, the membership’s wishes are being carried out when the Journals are issued in their present form and set-up. Back in 1939 and even before, I instituted the fight for a twice-monthly English Journal and was joined in this crusade by others who were in­terested in seeing the English Edition appear more often inasmuch as the need for it was ever present. The battle was won and now the fruits of this long, ardorous fight are to be taken away from we contri­butors and readers. I say, “No.” It cannot be done, and if the delegates have any vision they certainly will see much more than dollars and cents when it comes to the Journals, Hun­garian and English... the Journals in their present state exemplify in my eyes the word FRATERNALISM. It was gratifying to note that District 31, meeting in New York City, went on record as one in requesting that the mem­bership of the Association be continued in the American-Hun­­garian Federation. These mem­bers must be fully aware of the importance of this Federation and of the good it has done up to this time in helping thou­sands of Hungarians throughout the land. I feel that those District Meetings, and there were only two, I believe, who did not favor continuation of our mem­bership in this great Federation must not have the facts about the American-Hungarian Federa­tion because if they would have possessed them, then a com­pletely different stand would have been taken My hope is that our membership is continued and that we continue to work alongside of the American- Hungarian Federation always. Many of our members must BUY WAR BONDS forget that we are a Fraternal organization and as such are governed by the Fraternal In­surance Act. This Act definitely defines the requisites of a Fraternal organization and the branch meeting is one of the principal foundations of such an organization. If we want to retain our fraternal standing then we must continue along fraternal lines, and discount any attempt to organize our As­sociation along stock company lines. t Another item that I noticed in some of the District Meetings minutes dealt with the ad­mittance of children up to five years of age as well as transfers from our juvenile .order to senior order without the need of medical examination. Further­more these “recommendations” contained within them state­ments to the effect that these children and juveniles could be written for any plan of in­surance without a medical ex­amination. As I understand it, inconveniences are caused by the need of medical examinations for these children. As far as I am concerned and many others that I know of, we would much rather see these inconveniences continue rather than weaken our rating and standing as a great fraternal insurance association. The medical examination which is required at this time is a definite protective measure, and one to be continued in the future. If we should adopt a plan whereby children could be admitted to any plan or class without medical examination, and whereby adults could be issued policies of $500.00 without examination, I definitely believe we would be permitting our organization to falter and lose ground We have not attained our present status which is one of strength and good standing by issuing policies freely without any thought or regard for physical condition of applicants. True our District Organizers are fine men but oftentimes mental as well as physical defects could easily slip by without notice, thereby causing our Association financial obligations within the near future. Let us not gamble — insurance is enough of a gamble even when physical examinations are required. A note here and there in some of the minutes attracted my at­tention because it advocated an unfair condition to be in­stituted at this Convention. It suggested that local organizers receive the entire fee for securing members and that the District organizers be omitted from consideration This is as unfair as the day is long. Some people do not realize that the District Organizers devote their entire efforts to the work of securing new members, while local organizers spend but certain portions of their time towards this goal Therefore, our District Organizers should receive con­sideration along these lines as before, and we should not take away from them compensation which rightfully belongs to them. I am a local organizer and know exactly what conditions confront both myself and a District Organizer. Let us be fair and look at the question with an open mind. ATTENTION — DELEGATES! In my charge to the delegates at this Convention, I wish to include: express your thoughts and viewpoints intelligently; seek to better the Association by supporting legislation which will definitely improve our Association now and in the future; help the Convention by dealing with business matters on the floor or before the committee, do not waste time by expressing your thoughts if someone has already expressed identical thoughts, and if no added advantage can be secured by your speaking; speak only when you think your thoughts will influence certain legislature in favor of our Association; elect only those who are qualified for office; and those who in the past have proven themselves to be harmful to our Association through their acts and unwillingness to co­operate with officers and other office holders, please do every­thing in your power to hava them removed; do not consider feelings and friendship at this Convention, think always of the man and our Association; let no person mislead you into thinking he or she is a worthwhile person for office solely because of loud speaches and noisy outbursts on the floor of the Convention as well as in the Committee room; select officers and others en­trusted with the care of our Association with intense care and fitness; remember that much depends on our leaders and if we select unwisely then we, the members, will suffer from these unwise selections; favor no legislation which will definitely harm the current standing of our Association financially, as well as in the eyes of our public; do not seek benefits for yourself and those whom you represent at the expense of our Associa­tion; think wisely and act in­telligently throughout the entire convention; delegates should not permit themselves to be in­fluenced too easily, unless sub­ject is of important nature and support would aid passage if of direct benefit to association; waste no time, it is precious; work hard and accomplish much. This is my charge to the delegates at the Convention and I trust they follow some of the suggestions outlined above during the days of the Convention. Hdq. Co. 1303d S.U.R.C. Ft. Geo. G. Meade, Md.-------------------v------------------­ATTENTION, PLEASE! , It has been brought to our notice by the Division of Mails of the United States Post Office that ac­cording to section 601 of the Postal Laws and Regu­lations, we refrain from publishing in our Journals any mentioning of games such as bingo, feather parties, door prizes, etc., also naming the winners of such prizes. Therefore, all Contributors please refrain from men­tioning any of the above games or prizes in the future. Thank you kindly for your cooperation in this matter. THE EDITORS.

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